In surgery, a surgeon cuts into tissue at defined locations to access underlying structures or to perform some desirable restructuring of the tissue being cut. Damage to tissues outside of the defined location is usually undesirable. In some cases, a surgeon may wish to prevent damage to tissues underneath a tissue to be cut. Thus, a surgeon may need to carefully examine the depth of the cut while monitoring the length of cut and other variables—such as heat transfer to surrounding tissue, blood loss in the tissue, etc. This monitoring of multiple variables may cause the surgeon to take a slower approach to cutting through tissue or may cause a momentary distraction which results in tissue damage beyond that desired by the surgeon.
In some cases, a surgeon may use multiple tools to separate a tissue to be cut and other tissue(s) he or she wishes to avoid cutting. The use of multiple tools may demand the surgeon's otherwise free hand or require the surgeon to switch back and forth between instruments. In fact, in electrosurgical applications, a surgeon may use an instrument to separate or retract tissue with one hand, use the other hand to operate a cutting instrument and control the power output with a foot pedal to avoid having to let go of either the cutting instrument or the separating/retracting instrument. Thus, a surgeon may have to concentrate on simultaneously using at least three of his or her appendages during an operation.
Thus, there is a need for an improved device and method for reducing the number of variables that require the surgeon's attention such that the speed of surgery may be increased and/or the risk to the patient may be decreased. Additionally, it is desirable that the improved device and method reduce collateral tissue damage outside of a defined surgical location.